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Longmont woman testified she lied to police and that her boyfriend did not assault her

Says if he tells others bad things about her, she would agree

By Pierrette J. ShieldsLongmont Times-Call

Posted:
01/29/2013 06:19:58 PM MST

Updated:
01/29/2013 06:20:44 PM MST

Brooks

BOULDER -- A 20-year-old Longmont woman testified on Tuesday that her boyfriend never assaulted her while she was pregnant and that she lied to police about him strangling and shoving his knee into her stomach.

Shelby Laning testified that she did not tell police that Kyle Brooks assaulted her as detailed in police reports and that things she admitted to telling a police officer about the incident were false because she was angry with Brooks at the time. A 911 call made from the scene, she said, was made accidentally.

Brooks is accused of assaulting Laning on Nov. 15, 2011, after he found out she was pregnant by another man and pushed for her to abort the pregnancy. Brooks and Laning have a 2-year-old son together, according to testimony. According to police reports and prosecutors, he grabbed her by the throat with his left hand, squeezed for six seconds, and pinned her to the bed, placing his knee on her stomach after he demanded that she abort the fetus and she refused.

Police were called to the scene, but Brooks was already gone, according to reports. Officers caught up with him at the Boulder County Courthouse in Longmont later that afternoon, where he was scheduled for an appointment with probation. There, police reported, he fought with two Longmont officers, tried to take a gun from one of them, and retrieved a dropped Taser, pointed it at one of the officers and pulled the trigger. It did not fire, and the officers were able to control Brooks, police reported.

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Brooks is on trial in Boulder District Court this week on two felony counts of attempting to disarm a police officer, eight bail-bond violations and a felony count of second-degree assault.

Investigators intercepted letters from Brooks to Laning that instructed her to claim a "marriage privilege," which legally allows spouses to decline to testify against one another. In the letter, which was read aloud in court, Brooks tells her to claim they were common law. While the letter never made it to Laning because it was intercepted, prosecutors argued that he likely got the message to her another way because she provided his defense attorney with a printout of her Facebook page, on which she claims she is married to Brooks. Under questioning, she admitted she was going to attempt to use the marriage privilege, and she told the judge she learned about the privilege on television. However, Boulder District Judge Roxanne Bailin told her she could not because there is a legal exception when one spouse is accused of victimizing the other.

Laning testified repeatedly that she did not want to be in court and that she was irritated and on the edge of a panic attack.

"For the last time, he was not strangling me," she told a prosecutor who was asking about the altercation. Laning said she and Brooks did argue over aborting the baby, but that he did not hurt her. She said she was angry that day and that finding out she was pregnant by another man after not seeing Brooks for a while was emotional for both of them. Her fidelity was expected, she said.

"I don't want to testify against Kyle. It is my issue," Laning said. "Kyle should not be in trouble for this at all."

She characterized the incident as an argument.

"He was on top of me, but he was trying to calm me down," she said, adding that he put a hand on her arm to comfort her.

She also denied that Brooks said he hopes the baby dies, but did agree that he called her a "slut" and the "town whore."

She said she hit him several times, including once with her keys.

According to police reports from the incident, her friend Kayleigh Randall pulled Brooks off Laning during the incident. A brief call to 911 from her phone includes the words "Don't call!" before the call was cut off.

Randall also testified that the 911 call was made by accident and that she lied to police when they arrived because she did not want either Laning or Brooks to get in trouble. She also testified on Tuesday that Brooks did not assault Laning.

Prosecutor Ryan Brackley asked Laning if she thought Brooks would call her names and say disparaging things about her to others since she believes he loves her as well.

She said if he did, she would agree with his assessments.

Brooks made headlines in summer 2011 when he and a teenage girl he was dating disappeared. Her mother launched a public search. They were found in Boulder.

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